View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianRobin Krieger waits in line to speak with a Reserâs Fine Foods recruiter and drop off her resume at the Maximum Connections job fair Thursday at the World Forestry Center in Portland. Area WorkSource offices and the Tualatin Valley Employer Council, as well as several area companies, sponsored the event.

The free Oreos at the Kraft Foods table disappear an hour into the Maximum Connections job fair Thursday. Only crackers and chocolate chip cookies remain when Robin Krieger grabs a recruiter's attention.

That associate human resources position? Do you have experience with unions?

Krieger shakes her head no, then hears the message that punctuates most of the morning's conversations.

"I'm sorry that we don't have anything for you right now."

Hundreds of people streamed into the World Forestry Center for the WorkSource-sponsored job fair Thursday, all vying for time with recruiters from about three dozen companies, including Columbia Sportswear Co., Reser's Fine Foods and Wells Fargo.

Krieger, 51, of Sherwood, arrives early with 10 resumes tucked inside a leather portfolio. She circles Columbia's name in a yellow guidebook to mark its spot at the fair.

She had managed a Sherwood dental office for nearly three years, outlasting a reorganization that slashed its staff from 26 to 14. But she learned in April that she would lose her job in June.

For the first time in her life, she is cashing unemployment benefits. She's applied for 75 or 100 jobs, landing one in-person interview and four phone interviews. They went well, she said.

But these days, there are just so many people applying for the same job. "The whole process is a humbling experience, which everybody here would say an 'amen to that,' " she says, waiting in a line 20-people deep.

At the end, a Columbia recruiter offers smiles and handshakes to the stream of job seekers. Krieger's turn comes 15 minutes later, and she walks away with a business card and a new lead.

She swims through the crowd in the circle-shaped room to Leupold, the Beaverton optics maker. A woman there tells Krieger the job she'd applied for has been filled.

These days, nobody has time for face-to-face interviews, Krieger says. At the dental practice, that was her job, sifting through resumes and deciding who to take a second look at.

Today, employers all point to online applications, she says. That's an all right way to highlight your work history. But what about your personality?

"Gosh darn it, I wish I could find something for you," the Leupold recruiter tells Krieger.

View full sizeBenjamin Brink/The OregonianSharae Motameni, a human resources employee, represented Reserâs Fine Foods at Thursdayâs job fair. Four hours after it began, the line to see her remained steady at about a dozen people as hundreds of job seekers rushed around Miller Hall to learn about potential jobs.

She joins another long line, chats for a minute or two, and hears the same message again.

She's got to keep going.

When the recession hit, her husband lost his job as a spiritual counselor in Newberg. She lined up a job through a friend, after a decade as a stay-at-home mom. They had to get their boys through school.

The oldest graduated earlier this year from Linfield College, and the youngest is a seventh grader in Sherwood. The couple's middle son starts at Oregon State University next week. His first tuition check goes out in October.

"We're just trying to make it financially," Krieger says.

She makes another loop through the room, walking past tables for the city of Beaverton, then AAA, then a construction firm. She doubles back to AAA, only to find out it's hiring sales reps.

A recruiter from Aetna takes a moment to look through her resume, then asks whether she's currently working. The stock messages arrive after Krieger answers the question.

One more pass around the tables, and she stops at a booth for a temporary staffing firm, Richmar Associates. The recruiter there flips through Krieger's two-page resume, then asks whether she's comfortable with Microsoft and Excel.

Krieger pauses for a second, then replies no.

The recruiter laughs; it's an answer she's not used to hearing. "You are so honest." After a few more questions, she tells Krieger that administrative positions don't come by often. Then she adds Krieger's resume to a growing pile on the floor.